Naruto: Bunshin No Kami
by InsertHilariousPenNameHere
Summary: The old man whispered in a fearful voice. "Have you heard, child? Of the one they call the God of Clones? With hair as gold as sun, and power dark as a demon's? They say that where he goes, others fear to tread..." Naruto finally finds something he's good at, so he pursues the skill. AU from Mizuki incident onward.
1. Chapter 1

_**Naruto: Bunshin no Kami**_

**Bunshin: Clone  
Kami: God  
Bunshin no Kami: God of Clones.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter I**

The little red-haired girl ran with wild abandon down the dead-end road, skipping along with a clear destination in mind. She was wearing a red dress, with a circle on the chest, half red and half white. She wore black shorts that came down to her knees, padded with thick leather, and typical ninja sandals. The black fingerless gloves she was wearing had metal plates inscribed with the Konoha symbol. She must have been seven or eight, so she hadn't earned her forehead-protector, or _hitai-ite, _but she ran with the ease and stamina of one trained in the ninja arts.

As she slowed to a trot and then a walk, she looked over her shoulder and yelled to the older woman following her, "Come on, mom, we're nearly at jiji's house!" Without waiting for a response, the girl walked confidently up the paved path to the house. It had the look of a retired ninja's home. Windows looking out on every wall, at every angle, and escape routes to the back and sides.

The other houses on the street were much the same. The little girl paid them no mind, and called to her mother once again. She then rang the doorbell and knocked twice. Bouncing on the heels of her feet, grinning eagerly, she hummed a tune under her breath. When the voice from within called out in a frail voice, "Come in!" she yanked open the door and skipped in.

The silver haired man with the crooked Konoha headband smiled and closed the photo album he was holding. On one end of the room was a glass case displaying his Shinobi outfit: Flak jacket, baggy trousers and sandals. There were numerous pictures displaying the man and three children, but the little girl ignored them and bounced over into the old man's lap.

"Jiji, tell me a story! Mom can get us some ramen and you can tell me about your days as a ninja!" She beamed at him, bouncing on his knee over excitedly. The old man chuckled and ran a hand through his upright silver hair.

"Aiko-chan, I could never deny you. So, what kind of story do you want?"

"Ummm... I know! Jiji, tell me a story about when you were a sensei!" Aiko grinned and gazed up at him again. He chuckled, then stroked his chin and looked. Aiko stroked the scar over his left eye and went quiet.

The door opened and closed with nary a sound. A woman with pink hair and a shinobi uniform entered. Aiko yelled out.

"Mama! Jiji's gonna tell me a story! Can you get us some ramen?"

"Okay, honey." Came the somewhat tired, yet still wearily happy mature tones of the woman. "Miso, right?"

"Uh-huh!" The door opened and shut again. There was a small smile on the face of the old man.

"Ah! I know a story that you might like, my dear." He smiled wider. "This story is called Naruto, God of Clones. It is a story with adventure, suspense, fights, and love. It is a story that spans nations and villages, and begins and ends with a young, uncertain boy called Naruto. Settle down, and listen to my tale."

Aiko settled down and listened intently, and so begun the tale of the young boy Naruto, and how he became a god...


	2. Chapter 2

_**Naruto: Bunshin no Kami**_

**Naruto: Maelstrom  
Bunshin: Clone  
Kami: God  
Naruto: Bunshin no Kami: Maelstrom: God of Clones**

**Chapter 1**

Naruto yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed. He scratched absently at his chest and rolled out of bed, his legs thumping the ground. He wore only black boxers, and his ribs showed slightly. He yawned again and scrubbed at his eyes. His eyes wandered over to the window, and noticed that it was broken, _again_, and he would have to sweep it up _again_ and then he'd have to put boards up until he could get a new one...

He lumbered over to the breakfast table lethargically, still wearing only boxer shorts. He surveyed the room again as he put the Pot Ramen in the microwave, then moved over to where his baggy pants were lying crumpled on the floor. He yanked them of the ground and brushed a couple of noodles off of them. He yawned and his mind began to wander as he pulled on the soft black garment.

_Hmmm... Wasn't there something important happening today? At the Academy?... A test? Yeah, a test... The Genin Test! _Naruto thought, a grin splitting his face. He eagerly tugged on the last part of his pants and pulled the Pot Ramen from the microwave, devouring the succulent pork and heavenly noodles in bare seconds, before yanking up his black shirt and pulling it on. It was another few seconds before he found his orange jumpsuit and noticed the time.

"Oh shit! I'm gonna be late!" His grin slipped from his face, replaced by a devastating look of horror. He sprinted out the door, only just remembering to close it behind him, lest any other villagers get inside, and scrambled up the side of the building. Roof-hopping was a much faster mode of transport, and channelling _katchra _to his legs was really easy.

Back-flipping off the side of the building meant that he landed on the roof of the flat next his, and he ran to the edge before jumping again. As he went along, a genuine smile, instead of the insanely joyous fake one he plastered onto his face at school, stretched out over his cheeks. He relaxed and just enjoyed the rhythmical leap, land, run, and leap progression, and the feeling of the wind in his face, in his hair. It was moments like this that he lived for.

Eventually he landed in front of the Academy, but his smile didn't drop. Through the window he spied Iruka-sensei handing out test papers, and groaned. He charged through the hallway, banging of walls and doors alike, before he reached the correct class and barged through. It took him less than a second to think up a flashy entrance line.

"No need to fear, Uzumaki Naruto is here!" He called, laughing. It took him several moments to notice that Iruka-sensei was right up in front of him.

"NARUTO!" Iruka yelled, veins pulsing in his forehead. For a moment it looked like he would give him a full-blown lecture-slash-yelling, but the moment passed and Iruka deflated. "Just go to your seat." He grunted.

Naruto gave a mock-salute. "You got it, Iruka-sensei!" He grinned and looked to his seat. Sasuke was sitting by the window, with Ino-chan to his right and Sakura on the seat behind. His own seat was taken by some civilian kid, whom was making doe-eyes at Ino. Resigned, he trudged over to the back and sat next to Hinata-chan. She was nice, if a little weird. Every time he went near her she fainted, or turned a bright red. That happened now as she saw him ascend the stairs.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" He smiled at her, and if it was possible turned an even brighter shade of red. "I hope I get the test right! That's a quarter of the marks after all!"

Hinata nodded a little, then turned to her test paper. Naruto seized one from the hands of Mizuki-sensei and scrawled his name at the top. Then Iruka-sensei called out for the test to start, and Naruto moved on to the first question.

-/-

"Aaaaah, man. That test was _hard_." Naruto complained. "I hope the next part's easier!"

Sasuke-teme gave him a derogatory look. Sakura did much the same, but looked more confused. "That test was easy, dumbass." Kiba laughed, punching him lightly on the shoulder. Naruto huffed.

"Yeah, well..." He spluttered. "I'm gonna kick your ass in the next test!"

Kiba just laughed, and the class moved into the gym area. Iruka waited for the class to settle down. After a few minutes of laughing and worried questions of "what did you get for question two b?" or "I didn't understand question 3, what about you?" they quietened.

"Alright class, this is the second examinations and will count for a quarter of your total result." Iruka called out. "If you fail, you may be able to redeem yourself in the ninjutsu test. In this test you will go up against Mizuki-sensei and we will set the clock. If you manage to survive 1 minute, then you get 5 points. If you manage to land three hits on Mizuki-sensei, then you get ten points. If you get knocked out of the ring, then you get no points. Hits only count if landed on the head or torso. First up, Shino Aburame."

Shino nodded and walked on to the practice mat.

-/-

Shino, in the end, got three hits on Mizuki, even though it was a taijutsu only match. After him was Chouji Akimichi, who despite his stature didn't land three hits. He did survive for a minute though, so he got 5 points. Then were two civilians whose names Naruto didn't know. Then it was Sakura's turn, and Naruto cheered her on louder than any of the others.

Unfortunately Sakura was knocked off the mat, so she got no points. Naruto groaned, and ignored the fights of three more civilians. Then it was Hinata's turn, and Naruto looked up, curious.

Hinata seemed nervous at first, and attempted to dodge Mizuki's first strikes. Naruto, interest piqued, yelled out encouragement. "Come on, Hinata-chan! You can beat Mizuki-sensei!"

Mizuki's mouth tightening and him baring his teeth was the first thing he noticed, and then the fact that Hinata had gone beet-red. After a second though, her eyes hardened and she dropped into a Gentle Fist stance. Mizuki darted forward; attempting a jab to her stomach, but Hinata turned the the man's fist aside and kicked at his unprotected side.

"First hit, Hinata Hyuuga." Iruka called out, and the fighting paused for a moment, and then resumed.

Hinata initiated the attack this time, and Mizuki was immediately on the defensive. She launched a double handed strike head-on to his arms, locked in a cross-block as they were. Mizuki-sensei skidded back a few feet. Before he could recover, she had darted in and up inside his guard, driving her elbow into his stomach. When he bent over double, she smashed her fist into his face so hard that he flipped over and landed on his back.

"Second and third hit, Hinata Hyuuga." Iruka grinned sympathetically at Mizuki as he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "That's the full ten points, Hinata-sama."

The whole class sat in stunned silence. Hinata flushed a deep red and hurried over to a place at the edge of the group, where Ino started her interrogation. Naruto stared over at them from his place in the middle of the crowd, a slight frown tugging at his forehead.

"Kiba Inuzuka!" Irukaa called out, and the aforementioned boy growled. "And Akamaru!" He quickly amended.

Kiba's fight was both awe-inspiring and comedic. Landing three hits in only about twenty seconds, the fight ended when Akamaru drove his head into Mizuki's own, giving him a nose-bleed and knocking him out. Iruka had to break out the smelling salts and get several bandages to heal up the variety of scrapes, bruises and what turned out to be a broken nose. It was half an hour later when the fights resumed.

Eight more civilians fought, and five of them were disqualified; two only got five points and only one managed to land three hits. Then Shikamaru Nara's turn was up, but when the fight began, he wasn't at the practice mat.

"Troublesome..." Came the voice from within the crowd, then a foot flew out of the crowd of young shinobi wannabes, from the dark-haired genius, that slammed right into the middle of Mizuki's back. Before he could get up, two hits smacked the white-haired teacher, one in the solar plexus and the other straight into the stomach.

"Uh... Three hits to Shikamaru Nara!" Iruka deadpanned, only slightly nervously. Mizuki really hadn't had time to react to those hits. The Nara prodigy was dangerous.

Then it was the turn of two more civilians, both of whom were disqualified. Finally, finally, it was the Bastard's turn. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka-sensei called out, and every girl in the class, excluding Hinata, squealed with delight. Naruto scowled. Bad enough that the black-haired bastard was brilliant ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the primer kenjutsu training they'd had, he had to rank number one even in taijutsu!

The fight was over quickly. Sasuke used the traditional Uchiha style taijutsu and pretty much obliterated Mizuki. After the first violent knee to the stomach, Mizuki had all but surrendered to the boy's elbow crashing into his back, and when the light jab to the solar plexus came, he took it without complaint.

"Sasuke Uchiha, three hits!" Iruka called out. Then, it was Naruto's turn.

Now, Naruto had been watching all – well, _most of _– the fights pretty closely, and he had noticed that all the attackers had one advantage, whether it be extreme fighting styles, intelligence, or sheer strength, or a partner in crime, they all had one advantage. Naruto was proud to say that he considered his advantage to be his unpredictability.

When Iruka called him over to the practice mat, he sauntered over casually, as anyone might expect him to. Inside, however, he was gleefully plotting Mizuki-sensei's demise. The fight began, and Naruto launched himself forward.

Anyone else might have expected him to go high, but he didn't. Instead, he jumped low, parallel to the ground, and slammed his shoulders into Iruka's unprotected shins. The older man flipped over his back, and before he could get up, Naruto propelled himself backward and slammed his elbow into Mizuki's gut.

Winded badly, the older man rolled to the side and tried to get up. Naruto distantly heard Iruka calling out, "Uzumaki Naruto, first hit!", but then Mizuki had swiped out at him with his right arm, and instead of ducking Naruto spun in close, jabbing the white-haired man in the armpit and temporarily disabling his arm.

Iruka called the hit as Mizuki backed off. Naruto struggled to keep his face straight. If the teacher saw that he was gloating over his victories, then he would get angrier, and would attack him, instead of waiting to be attacked.

Unfortunately, he must have failed, because Mizuki bulled into him and nearly threw him off the mat. Luckily, Naruto jumped at the last second and was flipped over Mizuki's shoulder. In midair, Naruto managed to right himself in midair and when he landed he launched his foot into the small of the man's back. Mizuki was thrown off the practice mat and fell over. Whispering filled the gym as Naruto bowed.

Mizuki whirled, looking murderous. Naruto grinned at him, to show no hard feelings. When Iruka called the final hit, Mizuki's expression of fury deepened and he took a step forward.

"Mizuki-sensei, the match is over. Please get back into position so that Yamanaka-san can take her turn." Iruka called out, in a calm and measured, but warning, tone.

The frown disappeared and became instead a playful grin, and Mizuki jogged over to the practice mat.

"Nice fight Naruto, we'll have to have a rematch sometime." Mizuki grinned, compressing the young blonde's hand tightly in his own. Naruto appeared not to notice.

"Sure thing, Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto chirped, oblivious to the concealed hatred in the man's voice.

"And finally, Ino Yamanaka!" Iruka called out, as Naruto swaggered into the group. He got a few claps on the back and murmurs of "Well done," but most people were focussed on the developing fight between the Yamanaka heir and the platinum-haired teacher. When he finally returned to his previous spot on the edges of the group, he was surprised to see Hinata there. He furrowed his brow; he had expected her to have moved on by now.

"Hey Hinata-chan! Did you see my fight? Didja?" Naruto grinned frantically. So far, she'd been the nicest person he'd spoken to all day.

"It was a good fight, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered out. "I-it's good for ninja to be unp-p-predictable."

Naruto's grin grew even wider, and a little more genuine. He opened his mouth to say something else, but it was drowned out by a collective groan as Ino was knocked off the practice mat. Naruto half-spun, and then Iruka called out for everyone to head back the classroom.

Naruto was carried along in a human wave, and had nothing but a backward glance to give to the heir of the Hyuugas.

-/-

"This is the final test, and the most important of all three. How well you did on your last two tests will help inform us of your skills, but to graduate you must pass this test."

As Iruka began to draw his lecture to an end, Naruto sat thinking furiously. He was now sat in the middle bench on the right hand side, with a civilian kid to his left and Shino Aburame to his right. _I've got the Kawarimi no Jutsu pretty much down, and my Henge is almost perfect. As long as it isn't Bunshin I'll pass this test with flying colours!_

"And the technique required today is the Bunshin no Jutsu!" Iruka finished his long winded speech with a flourish, and there were severe mutterings throughout the crowd.

_... Fuck, _thought Naruto.

"And firstly, we have..." Iruka began calling out candidates to go into the second room, where he and Mizuki would then judge their performance.

-/-

Many children came and left, most with headbands, though several without. Naruto knew that if he didn't pull this off, he'd have to drop out of the Academy. They only trained the best of the best, and he'd have to go into the Reserve Corps just to keep up. While his friends would be getting one-on-one – well, one on three, but whatever – training, he'd be stuck doing endless drills!

He couldn't let that happen. He forced himself to think about what Iruka-sensei had told them about the Bunshin no Jutsu. _The Bunshin technique is all about chakra control. It's a ninjutsu that must be extremely precise, because even the slightest imbalance of chakra could disrupt the technique and lead you, and your comrades, to death._

_Right, _he thought. _Chakra control. Let's try a visualisation exercise..._

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" Iruka yelled. Naruto, shocked out of his thoughts, scowled. He was sure they'd sped up just to get to him first.

As he walked into the examination room, Naruto began gathering as little chakra as possible, hoping to mould it into the best Bunshin today!

"Okay Naruto, when you're ready." Iruka said gently, in the back of his mind knowing that Naruto would probably fail this test.

Naruto scowled. "Okay, three, two, one, Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled out. An sphere of blue chakra enclosed him, incandescent with power. Iruka squinted, an Mizuki almost fell of his chair in shock. The larger sphere then separated into two more spheres, and when the light died away, two useless clones were in their place. Naruto stood as still as possible, hands frozen in the Tiger seal, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." Iruka said sadly, noting down an X by Naruto's name.

"Iruka-sensei..." Mizuki started. "We could pass him... After all, he did make two clones, even if they are..."

"No." Iruka stated with finality. "Everyone else divided into three, and their clones were exact copies of the original. These are terrible."

Naruto dispelled the technique and ran from the room. Mizuki half-stood, but Iruka stopped him. Naruto wasn't destined to be a Shinobi. That was final.

-/-

Tears streamed from Naruto's eyes as he raced over the rooftops, the salty liquid blurring his vision. He couldn't believe it. He'd trained so hard, he'd practised for hours! How could he not pass? Through the blur of his own sadness he tripped and skidded over one rooftop that was more treacherous than the others. Instead of getting up, he righted himself and sat firmly.

It was maybe thirty minutes later that Mizuki found him, all cried out, but with blotchy red eyes and the most miserable look upon his face. He almost felt sorry for him. _No, _he thought viciously, _this is the demon child! And you're finally going to be rid of him, and you'll get the Scroll of Forbidden Seals too!_

"Hey there, Naruto." Mizuki said. Naruto didn't look up. "You know, the only reason Iruka is so harsh on you is because he sees himself in you. You see, his parents died in the Kyuubi attack, and so he did anything to get noticed. He played pranks, didn't pay attention in class, and always fought people. But when he finally graduated and became chunin, he matured. He doesn't want you going into the ninja world unprepared, Naruto."

During the speech Naruto's face had gone slack, but now he was staring up at Mizuki, eyes shining with tears, lower lip wobbling. _Disgusting, _Mizuki thought.

"Y'know..." Mizuki drawled. "There is another way to graduate..." Naruto jumped, grinning and looking like he was about to say something. Mizuki cut him off. "However, this test is very difficult. You have to kidnap the Scroll of Forbidden Seals from the Hokage Tower, and learn one skill from it. Your time starts now."

Naruto had gone from grinning to almost crying with joy. But the second Mizuki told him his time had started, the happy face dropped and he was all serious. He darted out over the roofs, eager to commit high treason. _Ha, _Mizuki thought. _What an idiot. He doesn't realise he's just a pawn so that I can gain favour with Orochimaru-sama._

Mizuki waited for about another half-hour, during which time he went over what he'd do to kill the brat, then how to deal with Iruka, then how to get back to the Snake Sennin. When he judged enough time had elapsed, he got up and stretched, then went bounding over the rooftops to Iruka's place.

"Iruka! Iruka, come quick!" He yelled, pounding on the door. "Wake up!"

Iruka's eyes snapped open and he dashed to the door. "What? What is it? Whats happened!?"

"It's Naruto!" Mizuki panted, pretending he was gasping for breath. "He's stolen the Scroll of Forbidden Seals!"

Iruka gasped, and dashed out, presumably to alert the Hokage and find Naruto. He missed the cruel smile that crept over Mizuki's face, and the calm, unconcerned way in which he went to find Naruto.

-/-

He hadn't fallen at the first hurdle. Not the second, either. But the third – boy, he fell, and he fell _hard. _It had been relatively easy sneaking past the ANBU guards. There was a rookie – Ant – on duty, and Naruto had just bluffed his way through. The amount of times he had been there, he knew how to get in. The trick was to look like you owned the place, like you had every right to be there.

The second hurdle – well, that was even easier. He just had to grab the scroll after picking the five-fold lock that was protected against ninjutsu and taijutsu. He had no doubt that against many other ninja, they would have failed. So many shinobi ignored the _dishonourable _art of lockpicking that they'd rather use ninjutsu, or simply brute force. Naruto wasn't like that. He had precision. And a lot of practise.

Then he just had to knock out Old Man Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, supposedly the God of Shinobi, with his Sexy no Jutsu. The man had fainted in the biggest spray of blood ever, like it had been years since he'd last seen a girl naked. Naruto grinned devilishly. Just wait until he mastered this dumb Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Then he'd get a surprise.

Speaking of the third hurdle... Naruto was stumped. After opening the scroll, which had been surprisingly easy, decided to choose the least jargon filled technique – the Kage Bunshin. Naruto sucked at clones, but this one was proving to be a little tougher. Poise hands in Clone seals, switch to Ram, then Dog, while shaping the chakra, and summon a clone.

Poof. He had a long time of training ahead of him.

-/-

"Naruto!" Iruka called out, exasperated. He hopped down from his tree branch, looked around, then spotted to boy. "There you are!"

"Oh look!" Naruto laughed. "Found you!"

"Idiot! I found you."

"Man, that was like, no time at all. I only learned one skill."

"One skill? You learned a kinjutsu? THAT'S why you're all beaten up?!"

"Geez, calm down, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka growled. Naruto's face lit up.

"Anyway, so if I show you this skill, you'll let me graduate, right?"

Iruka stared as Naruto stood in a stance – his 'serious' stance. His eyes zeroed in on the scroll on his back. "Naruto..." He murmured softly. "Where did you get that scroll from?"

"Oh this?" Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He told me about this place, too. He said that if I showed you this skill, I could graduate!"

Iruka frowned. Mizuki did this? But then... _Crrk. _Something snapped in the branches above. With almost no time to react, he threw Naruto out of the way, and took all the incoming weapons. Kunai, shuriken, and other indiscernible bladed weapons slapped into his body and pinned it to the wall. Iruka glared balefully at the sudden appearance of Mizuki.

"I see you found Naruto, Iruka." Mizuki grinned sadistically, his silky-smooth voice flowing over the two. "Well done. I have to say, I thought I'd find him first. But I suppose this doesn't really change my plan." Mizuki's eyes glowed furiously. "I'll just have to kill you both."

Naruto stumbled back and fell to the ground. Mizuki's smile suddenly grew wider. "Hey Naruto." He purred. "Wanna know a secret?"

Iruka's eyes widened. "NO!" He yelled fearfully. "Don't do it!"

"12 years ago... You know what happened right?" Naruto nodded, not seeing where Mizuki was going with this. "The Demon Fox being sealed, right?" Again, Naruto nodded. "Well, the secret is that there is a law that was made since then..." Naruto frowned. "But this law was never supposed to be told to you."

"What?! Why!" Naruto yelled, startled. "Why not?"

"Because the law is," Mizuki drawled, pulling out the tension, "That no one is allowed to talk about the fact you are the Demon Fox!"

"What..." Naruto scrambled back. "What do you mean!"

"STOP IT!" Iruka yelled. Mizuki ignored him. "It means that you... are the Nine-Tailed Fox... that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village. The Hokage you admire so much sealed you up, and you have been lied to by ev-er-y-one. Didn't you find it odd how all the villagers despise you? Iruka is the same – if anything, he hates you even more than the others."

Mizuki leapt into the air spinning his demon wind shuriken so fast that it blurred. "No one will ever accept you!"

Iruka desperately tried to get up. _Naruto is alone, _he thought. _He's never known a parent's love. He is hated by all..._

"THAT IS THE SCROLL THAT WAS USED TO SEAL YOU!" Mizuki screamed madly.

Doggedly, Iruka got his feet, feeling faint from loss of blood. _He makes trouble to get noticed, but inside he is truly suffering. _He smiled as an image of Naruto grinning at him, both middle fingers extended, and tongue hanging out of his mouth. He had locked Iruka inside a room full of pictures of naked women, then set up several cameras to take photos of him. Afterwards he had pinned up posters all over the villager, entitled 'IRUKA'S A PERVERT'. It took weeks to convince the kunoichi of the village that he was not, in fact, a pervert.

"Urgh-!" Iruka coughed up a little blood as the fuuma shuriken Mizuki was holding slammed into his back and penetrated his small intestine. The end of the blade pushed through his front. He crouched over Naruto and smiled at him. "Naruto..." He said. "We are so alike it's uncanny..." He coughed up another spatter of blood. "After my parents died I was so unruly... I played pranks, made trouble, and always tricked other ninja... all because there was no one there to compliment me, to acknowledge me... I just wanted attention. It was so painful..." Iruka's voice was harsh and strained, tears pouring down his cheeks. Mizuki was grimacing, struggling to grab another of his demon wind shurikens.

"Yeah, Naruto." He gasped. "You must have been in a lot of pain too..."

Naruto ran.

-/-

Leaping through the trees, feet easily launching up, through the branches, past leaves that flicked his face as he jumped and fell, flew and dived, Naruto ran. He was desperate to get _away, _away from Iruka and Mizuki and the demon and every time a villager had looked right through him or snarled his direction – he ran.

Iruka's eyes locked on to the speeding form of Naruto in the trees ahead. He increased his own pace to catch up. "Naruto!" He yelled. "Pass me the scroll! Mizuki is after it!"

Naruto changed direction easily and slammed into Iruka – or rather Mizuki. The Henge broke, revealing Iruka where Naruto once stood and Mizuki where Iruka had stood.

Mizuki slammed into a tree, and Iruka slumped against another, exhausted. A little ways away, Naruto was hiding behind a tree, clutching the scroll with two hands. He could barely hear what was going on, and he half listened as he opened the scroll and reviewed the technique he was pretty damn sure he had learned. Going over the seals, chakra manipulation and general theory behind it, he felt pretty confident that he had it down.

"... Yeah," Iruka murmured, just loud enough for the blonde boy to hear. "That is something the demon fox would do." Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes. Iruka thought that way too? "But Naruto is different. I've acknowledged him as one of my best students. He may not pay attention in class, and mess around, and be clumsy, but he isn't the demon fox, he's a member of the Hidden Leaf Village..."

Tears streamed from the orange-loving boy's eyes, and his lower lip trembled. He fought to stop the sobs that racked his body from being audible. "He's... Uzumaki Naruto!"

Mizuki snorted. "Ok, whatever. I was gonna kill you later, but now... HURRY UP AND DIE!"

He lunged forward, spinning his remaining Demon Wind Shuriken with a previously unheard of fury.

_CCk-_

Naruto landed a solid punch to Mizuki's face, breaking his nose and knocking out a few teeth. Blood flew, and the Fuuma Shuriken spun out of control and lodged itself in a tree. Iruka blinked. _Huh? Naruto!_

"You should not have done that..." Mizuki hissed and spat blood. His eyes were furious, and there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that he'd try to kill him. "Don't touch Iruka-sensei." He ordered darkly, using the Scroll as a crutch. And then, angrily, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Iruka gasped. "Naruto! What are you doing? Get back!"

"SHUT UP!" Mizuki roared. He was reaching the end of his tether. All he wanted to do now was kill them both, and get back to Orochimaru-sama. "I'LL KILL A PUNK LIKE YOU IN ONE SHOT!"

"Try it, Trash!" Naruto howled evilly, forming his hands into the Ram Seal(1). "I'll return the pain a thousand times over!"

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto cried, and suddenly he was everywhere. Mizuki spun around, his platinum blonde hair whipping about his head. They filled every tree branch, clung to every trunk, filled up the surrounding forest for a good fifty metres. Suddenly, Mizuki founf it hard to breath.

-/-

"Now Naruto, I understand you must be confused, upset and tired." The Third Hokage told him gently, "But if there's anything you need, just come to me."

Naruto nodded slightly, face downturned. "Hey, old man..." He said quietly. "Is... Is it true that I'm the demon fox?"

Sarutobi sat for a moment, puffing on his pipe. "Naruto, let me show you something." He pulled out a scroll, then drew a kunai from a pouch inside his robes. "This is sealing scroll, and this is a kunai." He activated the scroll and put kunai inside. "Now, what did I just do?"

"You sealed the kunai inside a scroll..." He said slowly, then his eyes lit up. Hiruzen carried on regardless.

"Now, just because there is a kunai inside it, does that make the scroll a kunai?" Naruto shook his head vehemently.

"Thanks Jiji!" He cried happily. "Bye!"

He thundered down the steps of the Hokage Tower and burst through the front door, leaving a, for once in a long time, content Hokage and a disgruntled Iruka.

_Now, _he thought, as he leapt over the rooftops to his apartment, _What can I do to get better at the Kage Bunshin?_

After clambering through the still-broken window, he sat at the desk with a pen and thought. After a while of thinking, he got up and put on some ramen. _Hmmm... Memory Transferral? The scroll did say something about me remembering whatever the clones have done, which would be useful for reconnaissance. _He wrote it down. _What about instant transformation? Combining the Henge with the shadow clone would be extremely useful, but I'd have to somehow program it into the chakra I use... _He scrawled out 'Instantly transformed clone' on the paper with a biro, and then got up to eat his instant ramen.

He tapped the pen against his chin a few times. _Well, the technique seems to clone everything I have on me, but could I only clone my weapons? Like, instead of having four kunai, I could clone them and have eight? _After putting it down on the list, he yawned. Looking outside, then at his alarm clock, he realised how late it was.

"Man, I should probably get to bed..." He yawned again and changed into pyjamas. He slid into bed and didn't notice the dog mask, tilted in a confused manner, hovering outside his window...

-/-

"Heh, heh..." Naruto grinned. He'd presented his picture to the Hokage and Iruka, and they weren't happy. The Third opened his mouth to yell at Naruto again, when suddenly-

"Old Man!" A kid charged into the room, wearing an abnormally long scarf and a weird cap. "Fight me!" He yelled in a voice so loud that Naruto's eardrums hurt.

_Slam._

"Owwww..." The child groaned. "Damn... That must have been a trap..."

A man in a black jumpsuit, black glasses and wearing a Konoha headband burst in. Naruto blinked in confusion. None of this made any sense. The brat with the stupid hair, the tall guy all in black, and the way the Hokage seemed to slump into his chair was just too much. He shook his head. This was just weird.

"Huh?" The brat was looking at him now. "Who are you?"

Naruto noticed out the corner of his eye that the tall guy was glaring at him, a sneer set into his mouth. He turned his attention back to the brat, just in time to realise that he was accusing him of tripping him up. "You tripped on your own, moron!" He roared in reply, hoisting him up by the cuff of the kid's shirt.

"Naruto!" The tall guy called out frantically. "Let go of him! That's the Third Hokage's grandson!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the tall guy. This stupid little kid was Old Man's grandson? Yeah right. Speaking of the kid, he was now growling at him.

"Hah! Go ahead and punch me!" The grandson of the Third Hokage yelled. Konohamaru! Naruto remembered his name now. "You don't have the guts to punch me!"

Naruto growled. _Here we go, _Sarutobi sighed. Naruto's fist smashed into the top of Konohamaru's head and he bent over almost double.

"Wha!?" The tall guy cried out in disbelief. Naruto smirked. That would teach stupid kids to disrespect him.

-/-

Naruto strolled through the streets of Konoha aimlessly, not in any particular hurry to get home. Yet he kept getting a sinking feeling that he was being watched... and he was pretty sure that it was that brat Konohamaru following him.

"Hey!" He yelled, whipping around just in time to see the kid pull a box over his head, disguising himself as a rock.

Naruto snorted in derision. Kid thought that was a disguise? God, he felt embarrassed by the kid. He had all the resources of the village at his disposal, and yet he was following Naruto around? Konohamaru had some serious problems.

"Alright kid, what the hell do you want?"

-/-

It was two hours later when Naruto finally got home. He entered through the front door this time, and observed the disgusting state of his house. Clothes strewn haphazardly across the floor, his table covered with food and drink in various stages of decomposition, and his bedcovers halfway across the room. He loved this place.

After sweeping whatever inedible foods he owned into the bin, he put on some more instant ramen, then got some nails, a hammer, and several boards to cover up the broken window he still had. About halfway through the job, he got up to have his noodles and admire his work. Despite the fact that the first board lay crookedly across the frame, and the second overlapped the first, it looked good.

He finished the job, then sat back down at the table to think of some more ideas for his Kage Bunshin technique. What about combining it somehow with the regular Bunshin so that his clones could fade out of existence at will? That sounded good. He wrote it down, then tried to think of some more ideas. After ten minutes of pondering, he gave up and went to bed. Drifting into sleep, he dreamt of becoming famous for his Kage Bunshin techniques, and going down in history as the greatest Shinobi that ever lived...

He woke up in the morning, still half-asleep, and plodded over to his cupboard to get dressed. After donning his traditional orange jumpsuit and orange trousers, he finally paused at his headband. He stared at it, lost in memories of the night when he got it, hen solemnly tied it to his head.

"YAHOO!" He yelled jubilantly. "I'M A NINJA!"

Birds roosting on the roof the apartment block took off in shock, and two floors down, an elderly lady dropped her bags of shopping. After cursing the demon brat for a few minutes, she went inside, and Naruto flew out over the rooftops to finally get to his as-of-yet undecided teammates and sensei.

-/-

Strolling into the familiar Academy classroom, he was struck by a bout of nostalgia. He realised that he would probably never come here again.

"Hey, Naruto," Shikamaru said as the blond boy passed by his desk. "What are you doing here? You didn't pass the test."

Naruto tapped his forehead protector. "See the leaf, Shikamaru? I thought you were supposed to be clever!" He sauntered past, chuckling to himself. He looked around as he got to the stairs that ran up the centre of the class, dividing the two sets of tables. After looking around and seeing if there was anyone he'd want to sit next to, he spotted Hinata.

"Hey!" He called out, bouncing up the stairs and sliding easily into the place next to the pale-eyed girl. "Hinata-chan! You passed! Well done!" Naruto tilted his head and grinned. "Well, after that awesome fight with Mizuki-teme, there wasn't really any doubt, huh?"

Hinata had at first gone extremely pale, but as Naruto's monologue went on she began to get redder and redder. She glanced shyly up at his grinning face, noticing the forehead protector and the way he'd called Mizuki-sensei 'teme'. That was weird on its own; Mizuki and the blond boy had seemed all buddied up last night. And the way Naruto had ran out of class last week without his forehead protector made her think that he hadn't passed. Maybe those two things were related?

"C-congratulations on passing, N-Naruto." She murmured uncertainly. Naruto's grin grew even wider.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan! You know, I-"

A sudden commotion from the front of the classroom caused both Naruto and Hinata to look up. Ino and Sakura were fighting over who got to sit next Sasuke, while the rest of the room looked on. Naruto thought he heard a few snide comments about how desperate they were. Naruto shook his head and looked back to Hinata, but before he could continue his sentence, Iruka walked in and yelled for quiet. After a pause, he nodded.

"Thank you." Iruka cleared his throat and picked up a clipboard. "Now class, I expect you'll want to be starting with rescue missions, recovering hidden treasure, or beating up the bad guys, but right now you're just rookies. So today we'll be forming three-man teams. Each team will have their very own Jounin-sensei, who will instruct you in all of your duties. We tried to balance each team's strength. Now, Team One is..."

Naruto 'Pfft'-ed and looked back at Hinata. "Here's to hoping we're on the same team, Hinata-chan!" He whispered, crossing his fingers. Despite her quietness, she did seem like a nice girl, someone you could rely on. He'd like her on his team. _Although, _he thought, _it would be even better to have Sakura-chan on my team... _

"... And Team Seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha, with Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto froze slightly, and barely heard as Iruka called out the members of Teams Eight and Ten. He was in a team with Sasuke-_fucking-_Uchiha?! This was unbelievable. The guy was a cocky, arrogant bastard who woudln't know humility if it put him in hospital for a week. Something Naruto would very much like to do... The amount of times the bloody _Rookie of the Year _had shown him up and then given him that self-assured smirk of his was uncountable.

At least he was in the same team as Sakura... Maybe, together they could finally show _him _up enough that the Uchiha prodigy would learn when to acknowledge his better and more-awesome-ers. Or something.

Naruto groaned, defeated, barely paying attention as Hinata's sensei – Kurekai? Korekai? Something like that – showed up and gestured her team through the door. He was so wrapped up in his own world that he didn't see Hinata's worried glance backward, nor Shino's unruffled, casual stare at him. He even failed to notice Kiba's angry glare, one that seemed to say '_back off, asshole'. _

Eventually, all the other jounin had arrived and ushered their pupils back to whatever training ground they had chosen. Eventually, Naruto was bored out of his reverie while waiting for his sensei. He began to formulate pranks just to alleviate the boredom, and when he finally devised a trick that was satisfactory, he went into action.

After moving over to the corner so that the others wouldn't be able to see him, he formed the seal for a Kage Bunshin. He had realised very early on in his practice of the Kage Bunshin that intent was important. The first few times he'd created a Shadow Clone, purely for experimental purposes, the few that weren't defective had remained stoic and almost emotionless, obeying whatever order he gave them. Then, when he had formed clones for combat purposes, they'd been eager to get active, running and jumping, doing light sparring against each other – the loser getting dispelled, so the clones fought extra-hard.

So now, when he had the express desire of recreational purposes, the clone he created should be as mischievous as he was.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _He whisper/shouted, and a clone popped into existence. After becoming comfortable, he grinned and giggled a bit. Naruto whispered his instructions to the clone, and the copy of the blond let out a short laugh that seemed to echo around the room.

Both the heads of the pinkette, who had been ogling Sasuke for the past hour and a half now, and the head of the black haired boy himself, turned towards him. Fortunately, all they saw Naruto holding a board rubber.

"What?" He said somewhat aggressively, tossing the eraser into the air. "What ya looking at?"

The darkly-clothed boy stared at Naruto for a moment, then turned and resumed staring out of the window. Sakura frowned, then got out of her chair as Naruto used a desk to reach the top of the door.

"Um... Naruto, I don't think you should do that..." Sakura said uncertainly, glancing at Sasuke as she did so. Naruto snorted silently. No doubt she wanted to look like a responsile girl in front of her crush, but Naruto could see the gleeful glint in her eye. She enjoyed this kind of stuff.

"Well, if you don't want me to," He responded frankly, pretending to get off the table.

Sakura quickly spoke back up. "Ah, I, uh, I never said that!" She squealed, waving her hands in front of her face. Naruto laughed in his head. She was so cute when she did stuff like that. Naruto smirked, then got back onto the table and placed the clone-eraser onto the partway open door.

Ten minutes later, Hatake Kakashi walked in.

"Hey, sorry I'm-" was about as far as he got through his sentence, before a the eraser dropped, hit his head, then became Naruto once again, holding a bucket of paint.

"DON'T BE LATE NEXT TIME, ASSHOLE!" The clone yelled as he threw the bucket of paint on to the white haired man. The paint was in fact a clone _henge_-ed for this specific purpose. If their jounin-sensei begged, maybe Naruto would dispel it...

Then again, maybe not.

"My first impression of you," he muttered as Naruto laughed crazily, rolling about on the floor, Sakura giggled behind one porcelain-white hand, and the Uchiha glared out him haughtily, "Is that I hate you. I hate you all. Especially you." He paused for a moment and turned an angry, if slightly humorous gaze on the orange-loving boy. "Meet me on the roof."

He turned and walked out the way he came in, and the three genin looked at each other. "Let's go then!" Naruto grinned, charging out the door and thundering up the steps. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other for reassurance – well, Sakura looked at Sasuke – and then followed Naruto.

When Team Seven reached the roof, they found a _very _pissed off Kakashi irritably picking at the paint on his clothes. He looked up and positively glared at Naruto. "How do you get this stuff off?" He said, in a tone that could have been conversational, but bordered on the downright murderous.

"Like this, sensei." Naruto smiled sweetly, dispelling the clone that had been Henge-ed as paint. Creating that had taken more out of him than he had thought it would. Maybe liquids count small areas as full clones? He would have to research it.

"Now..." Kakashi said primly, as he adjusted his clothing to be perfectly rumpled, in such a way as to make him look as awesome as possible. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura's brow furrowed. Naruto snickered silently. She looked so cute when she was doing that. Kakashi raised his single visible eyebrow. "Well, your likes, dislike, hobbies, dreams for the future..."

"... You go first." Naruto said. He was suddenly suspicious of this man, a jounin who fell for such simple pranks... Plus it would let him glean some information on the guy.

"Oh... Me?" The silver-haired man said. "Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake, and I have no desire to let you know about my likes and dislikes... Dreams for the future? Hmmm... I have a lot of hobbies..."

Naruto did an anime-perfect sweatdrop. _All we learnt was his name? _"Now you." Kakashi Hatake said in his monotonous voice. "Orange."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said, with pride, but no so loud so as to give the impression he was affirmed in his skills. "I like ramen... and learning new Jutsu. I also like Ichiraku's! I dislike pretentious bastards, and my dream is to become stronger and eventually be the Hokage! My hobbies are pranks... and perfecting my favourite Jutsu."

_He's interesting... _Kakashi thought. _He's a mix of idiotic and intensely clever. _"Next. Dark and duck-haired." Naruto snorted, Sakura looked shocked, and Sasuke scowled, but otherwise ignored the comment.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I dislike many things, but I don't particularly 'like' anything. My dreams... My ambitions are the resurrection of my clan... and to kill a certain man."

_So... _Kakashi pondered. _He hasn't forgotten Itachi... _"Lastly, Pinkie."

"I'm Sakura Haruno, and the thing I like is... Well, the person I like his..." Here she let out a squeal, as if she was thinking something naughty and downright dirty. "I dislike Naruto! My hobby is..."

She didn't finish. Naruto's jaw was slack, and his eyes were bugging. His crush really didn't like him... Maybe she was just playing hard to get? Yeah, that seemed right...

"Alright, enough of that." Their sensei said. "We will start our official duties tomorrow."

"Cool!" Naruto grinned widely. "What'll we be doing?"

"Well, tomorrow it will just be the four of us." All three genin frowned. "We'll be doing survival training."

"Wait, what?" Sakura yelled. "We did enough of that at the Academy."

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, for a start, I'll be your opponent, and well," Here he paused. "Out of the twenty seven that were chosen to graduate, only nine will become genin. And what's more, this exam has a failure rate of over sixty-six point six percent!"

"What was the point of the test then?" Sasuke murmured.

"Oh, that?" Kakashi smiled. "That was just to work out who would be given the chance to become genin. Anyway, bring your ninja equipment to this training ground tomorrow. Oh, and by the way." Kakashi's evil smile grew wider. "_Don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up." _

**END**

**So the first chapter of the Bunshin no Kami is up. To be honest, I really didn't want to do the Konohamaru scene, and I skipped over the lunch scene completely. I just didn't think they were necessary.**

**Anyway, I'm on the lookout for a beta reader, so PM me if you're interested (Though I'll probably PM you.).**

**Pages: 19**

**Word Count: 7884**


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